Study on Push and Pull Factors of Selecting the Cruise Tours

The purpose of this study was to examine the tourist motivation of selecting the cruise tours, a push- and pull-factor theory (Turnbull and Uysal, 1995) was employed, focus on the newly-entered cruise market in Taiwan. 300 questionnaires were distributed to those who went aboard two cruise ships rated as 4-star cruise by The Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships 2000 (Ward, 2001). The response rate was 83% (n=250). Travel and Tourism Intelligence Statistics showed that there has had at least 10% growth annually in the cruise industry during the 1990s, whereas the cruise industry grows, it is imperative that more efforts should be made to properly identify the marketing position before further promoting the cruise tours product. A push- and pull-factor theory, a sample LSD test and an one-way ANOVA analysis were employed to exam the influences caused by the respondents' socio-demographic characteristics. Relaxation and escape from pressure were the two main push factors of motivation perceived by most of the respondents, while having a fixed stateroom, oceanic scenery, and various attractions were named the top three pull factors for them to select a cruise tour. The relationships between the cultural differences and traveling motivations were also discussed. In order to provide functional suggestions for marketing the cruise, a recommendation is made for future research.